Steve Kerr: What Kind of Coach Are You Going to Be?

Steve Kerr has won a total of 9 championships as a player and a coach, so few people in basketball know more about winning and culture than Coach Kerr.

In an interview with Haas School of Business at the University of California Berkeley, he was asked how to build an effective culture. Before he started coaching, Coach Kerr said he visited several coaches, and NFL coach Pete Carroll asked him, “How are you going to coach your team?”

More important than Xs and Os are the kind of culture you want to build, the values you want to have, and how you want to make them come alive.

Carroll asked him, “What is the most important thing in your life? What are the most important values in your life?”

Coach Kerr said, “[Your athletes] have to feel the authenticity of you.” When you have genuine, real values and make them come alive, that is when the culture starts to form.

Coach Kerr came up with four words that defined him and his approach to life the most: joy, competitiveness, mindfulness, and compassion.

As you think about how you want to coach or lead, answer these questions:

• How are you going to coach your team? 

• How do you want to lead? 

• What kind of culture do you want to build, what will be the core values that will drive everything you do, and how will you make those values come alive?

On social media, I saw a post that read, “One day, your kid will sit across from someone and explain what it was like to be raised by you. One day, your players will explain to someone what it was like to be coached by you. What do you want them to say?”

You need to have a good idea of what Xs and Os you want to teach and run, but more important than that is how you want to teach, how you want to build relationships, and how you want to give feedback and hold people accountable.

Question of the Day: How are you going to coach your team?